Maybe it is easier to list the products which do NOT contain corn

Growing up, I always thought seedless grapes and watermelon were great. I assumed they came that way naturally. I loved grapes and watermelon, but I hated eating around seeds, so I was always thankful for the seedless varieties. At some point in my life, I learned that grapes and watermelons were not naturally seedless, but that they were “made” that way by humans. I did not fully understand what that meant until I took a biology class in college and learned about genetics. I actually think it is quite interesting that crops can be genetically altered to express what we consider better genes than the genes they would naturally express. However, I cannot say I am fully comfortable with this practice. Sure, it is fine to breed the seeds out, but where will we stop in the future, and will this practice ever start to have unpredicted effects on the consumer? Beyond the potential (hypothetical) effects, I believe this practice ties in with earlier readings from the course. The process of genetically altering our food just takes us further away from nature and the source of our food, which makes it easier for us to consume food without thinking about where it came from, how it was made, and what is in it.

Then there is corn. All of the things we have done to corn to slip it into the vast majority of the food we consume as a cheap filler is a serious point of concern for me. Especially considering the negative health impacts associated with many of these corn products. The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Food, Inc. really make me wonder how different our health concerns might be today if corn products were not so prevalent in our food. I feel certain that type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease would not be such a massive concern of ours if sugary, calorie dense corn products were not so ubiquitous.

As for the energy costs associated with our food consumption, I remember riding behind trucks filled to the brim with sugar beets as a child. I was naive to how far those beets would travel. In my mind, those trucks were heading to nearby supermarkets. However, now I am certain they were not. The trucks were likely heading to a processing plant where they would be processed and shipped off to another location. If those beets even made it to one of my local supermarkets, they probably traveled at least hundreds of miles before reaching the supermarket. Even more likely, those beets ended up in a supermarket thousands of miles away.

What is your opinion on genetically modified food? Do you think there are potential unknown health impacts, or do you think they are safe?

Do you feel comfortable reading a food label? Can you decipher what is in your food by reading the label, or do you find yourself wondering what most of the ingredients are? As we learned from Food, Inc., many of the ingredients in packaged food are corn based, but they do not appear as such. Do you actually know what you are eating? Do you think food labels should have to be more explicit (ie: explain from what all of the ingredients are derived) to ensure consumers actually know what they are eating?